Chris Gould
Takamiyama's 60s / 70s successes notwithstanding Konishiki was sumo's
first full-on mover and shaker from lands afar leaving Chris G to take
an in-depth look at the ripples the big guy left behind when exiting
the sumo pool.

More sumo fans are eager to see the Shiranui dohyo-iri performed
as there were so few yokozuna who adopted it, the last being the third
Wakanohana (Masaru). Most yokozuna who performed the Shiranui
style were either not successful or else had a short tenure as
yokozuna. Of those, the 43rd yokozunaYoshibayama Junnosuke
(1920-1977) won no yusho as yokozuna – while in recent memory – the
yokozuna careers of Wakanohana III, Asahifuji, Takanosato and
Kotozakura were short-lived. Actually, as his shisho performed
the Shirauni style, it is entirely

The 11th yokozuna Shiranui Koemon (may also be
known as Mitsuemon) was born in 1825 and died on February 24,
1879. He has been largely credited with a dohyo-iri style he is
said to have initiated and currently one of the two dohyo-iri styles
performed by yokozuna. The other is the Unryu style, which is
known to have been originated by the 10th yokozuna Unryu Kyukichi
(1822-1890).

The dohyo-iri forms by yokozuna Unryu and Shiranui were so admired for
their simplicity and beauty in the day that the styles were widely
accepted by later generations of yokozuna to this day. Shiranui’s
dohyo-iri was reported to be like “a white crane majestically spreading
its wings”.

Most sumo historians believe that what is currently known as the Unryu
style dohyo-iri was actually originated by Shiranui, as he is shown
performing his dohyo-iri with his arm to his chest in a period
painting. Interestingly, it is actually the 22nd yokozuna
Tachiyama Mine-emon (1877-1941) that is acknowledged as having
perfected the current Shiranui dohyo-iri style, but Tachiyama himself
was quoted as saying his dohyo-iri was based on yokozuna Unryu and he
considered his dohyo-iri to be that of yokozuna Unryu. The
confusion about two dohyo-iri has not really been settled but yokozuna
Shiranui’s dohyo-iri likely was closer to the current Unryu form.

In
the Unryu style of dohyo-iri, the yokozuna will put his left arm in
front of his chest and extend his right arm while raising himself
up. Recent yokozuna Akebono, Takanohana and Musashimaru all
performed Unryu dohyo-iri, as Asashoryu is doing now. The

Tsuna in the Unryu (left) and Shiranui (right) styles
(Mark Buckton)

act
of putting the arm to the chest is considered a defensive move, while
extending the right arm is an offensive gesture. For this reason
the Unryu style is said to be both an offensive and defensive form.

But in the Shiranui dohyo-iri, the yokozuna will extend both arms out
to his side while raising himself up without bending his left arm to
bring it to his chest. Another major difference is that the yokozuna
rope of the Shiranui yokozuna is tied with two knots in the back rather
than one, as in

conceivable that ozeki Kotooshu may go with it if he too becomes a yokozuna one day.

In the 2007 Natsu basho, ozeki Hakuho will be making another serious
challenge for yokozuna promotion. Should he win the yusho or
equivalent he will most likely be promoted as the 69th yokozuna after
the basho. Already, active discussion is underway to see which
dohyo-iri style Hakuho will be performing.